A/N: I own nothing.
Two Turtle Doves
Artemis was, as usual, up with the sun. He was sitting at his desk as Holly padded into the room.
She was sleepy, but wanted to be with him. She was sure that if she was awake enough to think sensibly, she would have stayed in her bed in the guest room. However, seeing as how it was around 5 am, she decided to tell common sense to screw off.
He did not seem surprised by her casual entrance into his quarters. He only looked up when she approached the desk, instead of the bed.
She had considered her options upon entering his doorway. She could go to the bed, where it smelled like him, where it might still be warm from him sleeping. Or she could go straight to him. He may prove to be interesting this early in the morning. She chose the latter option.
He paused as she ambled closer, sleepily smiling up at him. She walked up to his left side, poking him in the arm.
"Yes?" he responded embarrassingly to her touch, even this early in the day. He felt his heart race, his fingers less stable on the keyboard.
"Cuddle," was her only answer.
Both of his eyebrows reached for his hairline. He had never heard such a blatantly affectionate statement from the Major's mouth. Despite his surprise, however, Artemis couldn't help but oblige.
"Come here, Holly," he said sweetly. He could tell that she was tired and wanted to be held. She wanted to be held by him. He tried to keep his pride from filling his head as he reached down and allowed the small woman to climb into his lap.
Never in their lives had they been so comfortable with each other, or anyone else. He was more than grateful for this change, though.
As she wiggled into a comfortable position, he simply smiled. Her head rested on his chest; her legs curled around up towards her body. She was easily kept in position by his arms. She had managed to somehow arrange herself so that he could still type, if he so chose. However, for the moment, he could only look at her. His thoughts wandered to the previous day, when she had stomped into his room, demanding to know what in the world was going on.
Holly had barged into his room, about to explode into a tantrum about his plans and how they tended to get her into trouble and how she didn't appreciate being treated like a pawn on one of his chess sets.
She made it about 5 meters towards him before she stopped, staring.
He was just looking at her. Clear eyed, open faced starring. His shoulders were relaxed, there was no tension in his gaze. It was unsettling.
"What?" she demanded.
A smile broke on his face, smearing his features into something almost...beautiful. She mentally chided herself. It was Artemis, he manipulated beauty, appreciated it occasionally, but he never represented it. 'Right?' she asked herself, 'he isn't beautiful, is he?' She paused, not having the answer to her own question.
Not knowing the battle going on in Holly's head, Artemis responded simply, "Did you like your first present?"
She tried, she really did try to keep her thoughts on track. However, his wording threw her off guard.
"Wait, you mean you are really serious about this '12 days' thing?" she asked, incredulously.
"Of course," he answered, "do I ever say anything I don't mean?"
She made a face in response.
"Most of the time..." he corrected.
"Okay, no, you don't. So what's up with this? What are you planning?" she asked. D'arvit, she was losing her thoughts as she stared into his face. That handsome face... 'STOP THAT!' she yelled to herself.
"Please do not worry about that right now," was his only reply.
She screwed up her face at him. She wasn't going down that easily.
"Artemis, what are you up to? I can't get into it with IA again, they will have my acorns."
He could tell she was truly distressed, and that just wouldn't do.
"Holly, would you accompany me downstairs?" he would take her mind off of the plans he had made. He couldn't let her be stressed for any part of her vacation.
Her eyes flashed with suspicion.
"No," she said flatly.
Artemis sighed. He knew she'd be difficult, but it couldn't hurt to try.
"Holly, do you trust me?"
His words pierced her like a dagger. Yes, after everything, she trusted him, and he knew it. He had saved her life and career more times than she cared to name. Even when he had lied about the cause of his mother's apparently Spelltrophy, she had forgiven him. Turns out, as Foaly had not-so-casually mentioned one day, if he hadn't lied to her and she had gone back in time anyway, the Council would have taken her badge away for breaking so many rules for a simple Mud Woman. As the situation stood, even the Councilmen couldn't argue with a fairy trying to stop what could have been an outbreak of plague caused by one of their own. She had originally been furious with Artemis about the incident, but over time, the fact that one lie probably saved her career (and helped the entire LEP get rid of Opal from the past and her plots) had allowed the situation to level out, in Holly's mind.
Yes, she trusted him. And she told him so, grudgingly.
"Do you think I'd willingly do anything that could hurt you or your career?" he asked, knowing the answer, hating that he even had to ask. He tried to keep control of his face as his emotions turned inside him. He didn't want her to be upset. He wanted to make her happy, at any cost. But he couldn't tell her that...yet.
She sighed, thinking, 'He is so difficult sometimes.'
"No," she said simply, meeting his gaze. She had to put effort into not getting lost in his eyes. One, icy blue, a symbol of what he used to be. The other, hers, a sign of the goodness that had taken over. She repressed a shudder. It was still so unnerving to see his eyes, the exact mirror image of hers.
"Alright, then you know whatever I'm up to is not a bad thing. In fact," he said, cheering up, "you will probably quite enjoy it."
Holly didn't like surprises. She never had. Her mother tried to give her a surprise birthday party once. Only once. That was the day that Coral Short saw firsthand what happened when her daughter was faced with trying to be diplomatic. The poor woman had invited all of Holly's class to the party, most of whom were bullied into attending by their parents. Needless to say, Holly's mother never tried to give her another 'surprise' party again.
"Please just tell me," Holly pleaded, remembering how badly her mother had reacted when she planted her fist into one of her classmate's faces for saying that their home was small.
"No," he replied, in the same tone Holly had used just moments before.
"D'arvit," she muttered. She knew she wasn't going to get it out of him.
"Come with me," he insisted. They both knew that this argument wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and he really didn't want her to sit and think about it for too long. Better to distract her...
Another sigh sounded in the room. "And what," she replied, somewhere between scathingly and sarcastically, "are we going to do?" She knew what he was doing, but she couldn't think of any way to get the information out of him right now.
"How would you like to challenge Myles and Beckett to a snowball fight?"
Now Holly's jaw dropped. This was big. Whatever it was he was hiding, he was willing to go through physical exhaustion, possible humiliation and definite cold to distract her from it. She closed her mouth and considered the situation. She would love to bury the twins in snow balls, and between her LEP suit and the coats at Fowl manor, she knew she wouldn't get too cold. But Artemis had openly volunteered to do something so...childish. Whatever was going on, it was impressive.
After careful consideration, Holly decided that, after all, she had another 11 days to figure out what he was up to, and she didn't want to pass up the chance to smack him with a snowball.
"Alright," she said, finally.
Artemis' eyes lit up. He was actually looking forward to this. He had been much more involved with his brothers since his return home and wouldn't mind watching them try to beat Holly at throwing small objects.
"Really?" he sounded more excited than he'd meant to. 'Oh well,' he thought. He didn't mind Holly knowing that he was actually looking forward to this outing.
"Sure," she replied, "but don't think I'm going to play fair."
"I'd never assume such a thing," was the only reply. Holly stared at his tone, cool and possibly suggestive, and then snapped back to attention.
"I'll let the boys know," she said. "Meet you in the kitchen in ten minutes?" Her question was actually more of an order as she promptly turned and skipped out of the door.
Artemis smiled at the memory. They had split into teams of two (Holly/Artemis and Myles/Beckett, of course) and spent a good deal of time constructing barricades and building up their supply of ammunition. When the snow started getting thrown, it was clear that Myles and Beckett were no match for an LEP Major, with or without Artemis' help. Eventually, Juliet came out to help the twins and the entire competition fell into shambles. By sundown, they had each been tackled, buried, breathless and covered in ice from head to toe.
Holly and Artemis had spent the evening playing board games with Juliet and Butler while the twins retired early. The group managed to make it through most of the games in the house and had progressed to poker before Holly had started to nod off. This time, Holly managed to make it to the guest suite before succumbing to sleep entirely. The rest of the party followed soon after.
He looked at the small creature in his arms, recalling several times when the snowball fight had resulted in one of them landing on top of the other. Juliet and Holly had worked out an amusing system of throwing Holly instead of just a snowball. Myles had nearly passed out when he looked up and suddenly saw the elf rocketing towards him, hands full of snow and moving too quickly to avoid. More often than not, however, Juliet s target was Artemis. He hadn t minded; it meant that he was able to revel in the experience of his heart pumping faster than he could really handle as Holly s bright eyes settled only inches above his face, promptly covering it with snow.
Artemis couldn't help but smile as his heart once again sped up. He had no idea why it never bothered him that Holly had this effect on him; he enjoyed it too much to try to dissect it.
Taking a deep breath and being careful not to jostle the sleeping figure in his arms, Artemis continued on his work.
When Juliet came to check on Artemis an hour later, she found him with his chin resting on Holly's head, fast asleep. After quickly getting a picture to use for blackmail later, she quietly tried to rouse the dozing pair.
After a few failed attempts at simply calling their names, Juliet resorted to the more amusing option: poking a sleeping LEP officer. Sure, she could have gently shook Artemis into wakefulness, but where was the fun in that?
So she poked Holly square in the stomach and pulled her arm out of harm's way. Smart decision, on her part.
Holly awoke by flinging all of her limbs out, knocking herself and Artemis off balance and promptly landing both of them on the floor. The shock of hitting the hard surface so quickly managed to help them both realize where they were and Juliet's strangled laughter explained how they got there. They exchanged glances and when they both realized that the other was not hurt, Holly lunged at Juliet as Artemis checked to make sure that none of his technology had been disturbed in the ruckus.
As Holly chased Juliet out the door, shouting threats to the still-giggling blond, Artemis straightened his clothes. He waited a few moments, until the shouts had lessened enough that he could know that both girls had made it to the kitchen.
He stood, putting his paper work back into the proper folders and files. When he opened the middle drawer of his desk, he pulled out a small jewelry box. He flipped the top open, examining the contents one last time before walking to Holly's room and setting her next gift on her bed.
Holly didn't get back to her room until far past sunset. Juliet had made good on her promise to drag her to a spa for the day. Every muscle in her body was blissfully eased, her skin was toxin free and her hair was shining even in dull light. She had gone to the spa shaped like a human, but the treatment s and massage's effects were still strong as she shrank back to her normal size.
She was truthfully surprised to find the box on her bed. She was under the impression that the spa trip had been her treat for the Second Day of Christmas.
Curiously, she picked up the box and the note attached.
"Doves are commonly considered the purest of all birds. I know you love to fly. When you wear these earrings to bed, you will dream of being in the air like these doves, free and pure."
Inside the box she found a pair of what looked like bird-shaped diamonds. She gasped for a moment, seeing their many facets shine in the light given off by a bedside lamp. Upon closer inspection, however, she realized that they were not diamonds. In fact, she would be willing to bet that these little jewels were worth far more than a diamond of the same size.
They were each filled to the brim with magic. She sensed that No1 had something to do with these contraptions until she saw tiny mechanical parts. Now she knew Foaly was probably in on it too.
As she attempted to process what she was holding, the complexities that must have been involved in their creation, Artemis walked in the doorway.
"What do you think?" he asked, almost cautiously. He was trying to decide if he needed to run as quickly as his legs would carry him away from the occasionally volatile elf.
She looked up at him, tears brimming in her eyes. "I love them," she said, simply.
Yet again, she surprised him. He hadn't been expecting this reaction. He relaxed and decided it was safe to walk to her.
"Why the waterworks?" he asked, trying to lighten the moment. "Why are you so good to me? she asked, sounding almost helpless. And No1, and Foaly. I know they must have helped with these."
He smiled, not at all surprised that she had recognized the signatures of her friends on the items.
"Why do you doubt me?" he asked, throwing her out of her thought process.
"How do you always make everything about you?" she began to yell, before she saw the laughter in his eyes.
"...you little prick. You did that on purpose," she accused, already smiling.
"Yes," he replied.
"Thank you," she breathed, looking again at the priceless items in her hands. She looked up at him, pure gratitude on her face.
"Come back downstairs," Artemis said, trying not to stare at her perfect face. "Juliet wants to watch a movie with you."
"Alright, just let me put these up."
Artemis waited by the door as she very carefully placed the box and note beside the other gift. His heart was swelling almost painfully at seeing how happy she was with her presents. He glanced down to avoid grinning at her. 'And it's only the Second Day,' he thought.